Christmas Baskets

It's only August and I'm already thinking about Chrsitmas but, us crafters need time to prepare!   I just started canning so I thought that I would make up some baskets of preserves, cookies, and a canned apple pie filling.

I found these pie pans at Amazon for $10 so I ordered 5 of them.

I then went looking for baskets and I found a 12" round one at Papermart online.  They're only $3.29 each but you have to buy a case of 10.  That's fine with me, I can use them for the pie plates and for gifts of preserves.  I also ordered a 25 yard roll of 18" wide tulle in Ivory to wrap the baskets and make bows.  I can get packing shavings just about anywhere so I didn't order it there.

I can make potholders and hot pads for the pie pans out of some apple fabric that I have and make fabric tops for the jars.

Sewing it all together

Yay!!  All the braids are done and being sewn together, just one more striped band to go! 

I was going to do the slim inner border in black but I don't have enough black to do that and the binding so, I will use the band fabric.  I think it finishes it off nicely (the white edge will be hidden in the seam allowance).

Almost ready to assemble

The braids are almost ready to assemble.  Two of them are done and the other two just need two strips added.  I put the two braids on the design wall with the fabric that will be between them and the border.  There will also be a slim black border before the floral one.  I like how it's looking. :-) I need to play around with the border fabric and see how the corners would come out if I miter them.  Since it's not a square quilt it might look a little weird in the corners AND I need to remember to have them all facing the same way around the quilt.

One braid

One braid is done.  I like this and it's an easy, quick pattern.  Still need to get the JR strips cut for the other three but I wanted to see what one of them looked like first.  I am not totally sure that I have enough solid black.  I had all the fabric for this quilt but then I used the black for the borders on one of the IRR quits.  I had a good sized piece of black in my stash and have the center square cut out for 3 braids so it might come down to having enough for the end triangles.

In a Slump

I've really been in a slump lately about getting any sewing done.  I think the latest quilt is getting me down.  There is so much work involved in it and it's taken so many months, that sometimes I just can't face working on it.  I've not "let" myself start on something else because I don't want it to turn into a UFO but, I have to do something.  I worked on the applique hearts last night and got a couple of them sewn on.

To get out of this rut I started on the quilt for my son and his girlfriend.  They told me the colors they liked, red/gray/black/white, and I got some of the After Hours collection at Connecting Threads.  The jelly rolls are only 20 fabrics so I got 4 of them.  This was actually perfect because it takes one JR strip to do each color in a single braid, there are 4 braids.  I got a black with a red/white patterned stripe for the piece between the braids and the large-scale print for the border.  I'll have quite a bit left over, 36 strips and whatever of the yardage is left, to make something else with it.  Maybe a little quickie from the Jelly Roll Quilts book.

Strawberry Jam

My granddaughter came over yesterday and stayed the night.  We made a great lunch of soft tacos with homemade tortillas and then we made strawberry jam!  She did most of the prep of lunch and the strawberries, did all the stirring, mixing, and pouring into the jars. It was a fun afternoon.  We haven't tasted the jam yet but with just strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and pectin, there's not much that can go wrong.  It looks good anyway.

Brianna showing her work

Everything is better with Fabric!

I just can't do it!

I sat there looking at the hearts with my brand new seam ripper in hand and couldn't do it, couldn't take them off. Almost need a magnifying glass to see the TINY stitches done in monofilament and if I mess up the quilt I would kick myself for not leaving it as it is.

It's not a mistake that needs to be corrected. It's not a masterpiece destined for a museum. It's a simple quilt that has been fun (mostly) to do. I learned how to use the printed HST sheets. I used the heat resistant templates for the first time. I learned a lot of things with this quilt and I still like the first design too.

I have another row of 5 hearts ready to sew on. :-)